(Genesis 28:10-22) Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place. 12 He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. 14 Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
18 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, 21 and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God. 22 This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
The Lord spoke to Jacob in a dream-like-state, repeating the Abrahamic covenant to him, which included the promise of land, seed and blessing. The extra blessing that all nations would receive through his descendants, was that the Lord Jesus would be born in flesh through their bloodline, making salvation possible. And for the Israelites to have their land, seed and blessings in full - requires their perfect obedience. Salvation in Jesus is key! This is the only way for anyone to be considered "perfectly obedient" in God's eyes.
Not only did Jacob recognize the Lord, but he set up that place as a type of church. A place to "meet with God" and give back to Him a tenth of everything God gave to Jacob. (FYI: everything that we have is from God!) But we can see here that as Jacob begins his walk with God, his faith and understanding is very immature. Remember, Jacob had no qualms fenagling the birthright and stealing the blessing (inheritance) from his brother Esau, so it isn't surprising that Jacob thinks that he can or he has to negotiate with God.
We should not expect God to first give us what we want and THEN we will do something that He expects of us. It all begins with us first making a decision to believe! When we put our faith in Him and accept His free gift of forgiveness and salvation, in that moment we become a child of God. And because He has done all of THAT for us, in thankfulness we should desire to walk closely with Him. As we then strive to live in obedience in His strength and wisdom, our heavenly Father will bless us and work things out for good. It might not be as we expect, but we will see miracles and amazing evidence of His love and blessings.
We might wonder why we don't have God dropping in on us to talk to us directly, but we kind of do! Because God loves us, He does reach out to us. He has given us His infallible word, the Bible, which we can read and study every day! He has given us His Helper, the Holy Spirit, to guide and work in and through us. And He has given us a Christian family to help encourage and equip us.
As we trust in Him, our actions will demonstrate that trust. For example, when God tells us to do something, our obedience shows our trust that He knows all things and wants the very best for us. Tithing is a very specific way we can demonstrate our trust in the Lord.
When we tithe 10%, God makes sure we are content and have what we need. Sometimes He gives us more, but not necessarily. In all the testimonies, I have never heard anything contrary to that. I have heard many people say how they were barely eking by until they started to tithe, and even though they still had the same income, they suddenly had more than enough. Having daily devotions and attending church is the same way. We are tithing our time. So when we make time for God, He will not only bless that time, but we will make better use of all our time.
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